SOUTH PARIS — The heat was on Thursday evening, and it wasn’t because of the weather.

Bessey Motors fell behind not just once but twice in the early going in the first round of the Zone III tournament. Bethel/Locke Mills had early one-run leads and Bessey Motors had to regroup in a hurry.

Pitcher D. J. Croy eventually settled in and so did his teammates as Bessey Motors advanced with a 14-4 win in a game shortened by the 10-run rule in the sixth inning. Bessey Motors (14-5) advances to Friday’s semifinal against Windham, which beat Rogers Post (New Auburn) 2-1 in nine innings.

“I felt like I was struggling at the start,” said Croy, who scattered seven hits but finished strong. “We came back. I just tried to work on staying in back of the ball. I’ve been letting go a little further back which caused it to go high. I pretty much tried to calm down a little bit. I was a little aggravated but once we put up some more runs, I loosened up a little.”

Bethel/Lock Mills built leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and then rallied from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game in the fourth, 4-4. That’s when Bessey Motors put the game to rest with four runs on three hits and two Bethel/Locke Mills errors.

Croy led his squad with two hits and three RBI. Travis Linehan, Cody Hadley and Dylan Cox also had a pair of hits. Hadley also drove in a pair of runs and it was his hustle on the bases that coach Shane Slicer said may have lit the spark for his team.

“Everybody said we’ve got to to play no matter how hot it is,” said Slicer of Hadley’s baserunning. “He was playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.”

Bethel/Locke Mills (9-10) got two hits and an RBI from T. J. O’Connor and Jeb Clarke.

It was an O’Connor single in the first that plated Clarke after a lead-off double.  Bessey Motors tied it in the bottom of the inning when Cox scored on an error. In the second, Bethel/Locke Mills made it 2-1 when Kyle Peterson scored on a double steal.

“It took D. J. awhile to settle in,” said Slicer. “It wasn’t his best performance but he gutted through it. He had some good pop at the end.”

Bessey Motors got three in the third to make it 4-2. Hadley tripled in Cox and scored on a Brandon Cambell sacrifice fly. An Andrew Rascoe RBI single made it 4-2. Bethel/Locke Mills got that back in the fourth with two outs. Drew Wilson’s infield hit plated a run and Clarke singled in the equalizer.

“Sometimes I feel like if we get down in the first or second inning we’re more motivated to get back up ahead,” said Croy.

Bethel/Locke Mills starter Ben Field was hit on the hand by a pitch in that inning. In the bottom of the frame, he struggled before being replaced by Dan Whitney. Bessey Motors opened up the lead.

“The big inning when we got four, we answered the call,” said Slicer. “We went up 4-2 and they got two and we went up by four. You could just see them deflate. That was big.”

Linehan scored on a doubled play. Hadley followed with a double that scored Cox. After Hadley scored on an error, Croy singled in a run for an 8-4 lead.

“It usually takes at least the second time through to start hitting,” said Croy, who allowed just one hit the rest of the way.

Bessey Motors added four more in the fifth. Croy and Matt Beauchesne each drove in runs. Then Nick Dyer drove in a run in the sixth and Ty Martin scored on a wild pitch to end it.

“They made some mistakes,” said Slicer of Bethel/Locke Mills’ five errors. They were hard hit balls. They were tough plays. They weren’t routine plays. We put it in play.”

kmills@sunjournal.com